Rachel Yavinsky
Senior Policy Advisor
Rachel Yavinsky is a senior policy advisor in International Programs. Her focus is on facilitating the sharing of information between research, practice, and policy through clear messages and innovative products. She has worked on topics including family planning; maternal, neonatal, and child health; and population, health, and environment (PHE). Previously, Yavinsky served as strategic communications and engagement lead for the Passages Project, managed PRB’s Policy Communication Fellows program, and served as research utilization and knowledge management team lead on Breakthrough RESEARCH, a USAID-funded social and behavior change research project. Yavinsky has a Master of Health Science in reproductive and perinatal health from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and a bachelor’s degree in biological anthropology and anatomy from Duke University.
Expertise
Aging and Depopulation
Caregiving and the Care Economy
Children, Youth, and Families
Sexual and Reproductive Health
Featured Projects
PROPEL Health
PRB is a partner on the PROPEL Health project, which is working to support more equitable and sustainable health services, supplies, and delivery systems through policy, financing, governance, and advocacy.
Featured Resources
Localizing WHO Guidelines on Self-Care: A Practical Guide From Uganda / Adaptation des lignes directrices de l’OMS sur l’autosoin
This how-to guide documents Uganda’s approach to developing and testing a self-care guideline, and illuminates a five-phase process that may be helpful for other countries looking to nationalize the WHO guideline.
Improving Antenatal Care in Nigeria With Social and Behavioral Change
The Breakthrough RESEARCH project has identified three important factors for improving women’s attendance at four or more antenatal visits during pregnancy (ANC4+) in three states in northwestern Nigeria: 1) knowledge of ANC’s benefits, 2) confidence in the ability to access care, and 3) knowledge of the need to attend four or more visits.
Featured News & Insights
Are Millennials Really the Bridge to a More Integrated America?
New research finds Millennial adults do live in less segregated neighborhoods than past generations—but progress has been mixed, and diversity does not always mean true integration.
Why Americans Are Delaying Parenthood
Four studies offer new insights on the decision to have kids in a low birth rate era.
Families With Nonstandard Work Schedules Face 'Pattern of Disadvantage'
Mothers with less education are more likely to work jobs that fall outside the typical 9-to-5 schedule. This can have negative effects on their children’s behavior and development.
State Lawmakers Turn to Research Community in Efforts to Protect Abortion Access
Without coordination from researchers and advocates, “we would have not had 38 other organizations who support reproductive rights in Maryland and across the country come up to support us and provide testimony in that bill," said Lesley Lopez (D-Maryland).
Abortion Bans Linked to Sharp Rise in Sepsis, Infant Death, and Pregnancy-Associated Death, New Research Shows
In the wake of Roe's overturn, states with abortion bans have seen 478 excess infant deaths and 59 excess deaths during or after pregnancy.
For Homeless Youth, Is Poor Health Just a Matter of Time?
A new study finds that the longer young adults spend unsheltered, the more likely they are to report poor health outcomes
Wildfires devastated their communities. Will Californians stay put?
Recent research about migration patterns after the most destructive wildfires may help us predict what happens next
In the Battle for Time, Exercise Beats Sleep for American Adults
Parents get less sleep than nonparents but still squeeze in workouts, study suggests
From the Emergency Room to Eviction?
Research finds increase in housing hardship among families who use the emergency room or are hospitalized.
From Paper to Practice: How PRB Supports Researchers to Put Their Results Into Action
Through the Research Technical Assistance Center (RTAC), PRB helps researchers communicate their work more effectively to target audiences with workshops, toolkits, webinars, and product development.
Five Tips for Creating a Compelling Conference Presentation for a Diverse Audience
Lessons from my experience at a climate change conference in Cape Town, South Africa
